Basic sediment and water measurement
AssigneeShell Oil Company
InventorsThomas L. Stewart, Edward R. Cadena
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Basic sediment and water content of crude oil flowing through a pipeline is measured by removing a representative sample of the crude oil, heating the sample, and centrifuging the sample to separate the water from the oil. The vapor pressure in the centrifuge is controlled to prevent the escape of any water which has been vaporized by the heating step. The water fraction is passed to a condenser to condense whatever water was vaporized during the heating. Following the condensing step, the water flows into a measuring vessel and is measured.
Claims7
A process for measuring the water and sediment content of crude oil flowing through a pipeline comprising removing a representative sample of the crude oil from the pipeline, heating the sample, centrifuging the sample to separate the water and sediment from the oil, controlling the vapor pressure in the centrifuge to prevent the escape of any water which has been vaporized by the heating step, passing the water fraction to a condenser to condense whatever water was vaporized during the heating, measuring the water, passing the oil to a tank and measuring the oil.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.